President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 diagnosis could not have come at a worse time. The President, who had domestic travel on the agenda, has had to cancel his plans to tout his accomplishments ahead of the midterm elections.
So far, Florida and Pennsylvania are off the schedule after the White House had to cancel these trips after Biden tested positive for COVID-19.
The two battleground states represent a significant loss for Biden’s plans to win favor with voters before a midterm election that is set to be particularly grueling for Democrats.
Since the beginning of the year — when Biden planned to increase domestic travel as the pandemic slowed — his plans have been thwarted. First by his focus on the Russia-Ukraine and foreign trips, but in the months since, by a variety of obstacles.
So far, it remains unclear how long Biden — who is isolating while experiencing mild symptoms — would be out of commission and if his isolation will affect more of his domestic travel plans.
Although, the White House has confirmed that the President will isolate for five days and stay away from people until he receives a negative test, meaning Wednesday (July 27) could be the soonest Biden will resume his in-person activities.
Biden seems to be following the CDC’s guidelines, which require those who test positive for the virus to quarantine for ten days, unless they are asymptomatic, in which case, they only have to quarantine for five days but wear a mask for the remaining days.
However, Biden could spend more than the estimated period as he is currently on a treatment course of Paxlovid. The antiviral which is used to lessen the severity of COVID-19, often sees patience have a resurgence of symptoms.
According to Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, the use of Paxlovid can cause some patients to test negative but days later test positive.
